The Lost: Memories
by BuckBeard
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki is the star senior athlete at his high school. He's very popular, and leads a great life. One problem though. He can't seem to remember a certain chain of events that happened to him 2 years ago. What happened, and why is it so important? Will he be able to regain his memories? Ichigo x ?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Hello valued reader/reviewer! This is a Bleach fanfic that takes place 2 years after the winter war. Ichigo Kurosaki is a 17 high school senior, and a star athlete to boot. He's a successful, good looking, talented guy. But there's something wrong with him. Something happened in his life about 2 years ago, and for some reason he just can't remember. Follow this journey from multiple perspectives as we try to find the memories that are hidden deep within Ichigo Kurosaki's mind.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

_"Quoting"_

_Emphasis__  
_

In addition to this fanfic, I'd appreciate it if you checked out my One Piece one, **"The New Generation of Pirates.** Both fanfics will be constantly updated daily." Thanks for reading!

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"Ichigo! You need to hurry up if your going to make it to school in time! I heard they cracked down on tardies for high school, and since your a senior I really doubt you can afford to get a tardy!" Ichigo sat up in his bed as he heard his little sister Yuzu calling for him. He was already dressed, he just felt like resting his eyes a bit by crawling back into bed. He wiped his now visibly droopy eyes, and stumbled out of the covers. He scratched his orange hair as he took one last look at himself in the mirror on the door. He was wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt and some khaki pants, along with his basketball sneakers and a small black bag thrown over his shoulder. He sighed at the strict dress code influenced outfit and hurried out his room.

"Good morning Ichigo," Karin said as Ichigo scooted by her to speed his descent down the stairs.

"Mornin'!" He yelled as he continued his speedy exit. Ichigo ran right out the front door without eating breakfast so that he could be sure he was on time. He ran the length to school, stopping only once to catch his breath slightly, but mostly so he could be sure he wasn't working up a sweat. He managed to get to his first period before the bell rung by a 5 minute gap. For some reason, he was freakishly athletic. He sat down at his desk and lowered his bag onto the floor. Not soon after that, his goofy friend Keigo walked into the room.

"He-lloooooooo Ichigo!" Keigo said excitedly to his friend. He sat down in the desk in front of Ichigo and turned around to fist pound and chat with him. "You were pretty great last nite! You had like what 40 points, 12 assists, and like 7 steals?"

Ichigo smiled for once despite his usually stern personality. "36 points, 10 assists, 6 steals, and 10 rebounds. But who's counting?"

"Apparently you are Mr. Star Athlete. Your the only guy I know that would look at his own highlight tape for hours on end and memorize his stats. You play too many sports, you need to slow down before all these scholarship offers smother you to death," Keigo said. He was happy for his friend-who wouldn't be? Ichigo Kurosaki was the star shooting guard on the Karakura High School basketball team, the star forward for the soccer team, the track and field star, and the star of the baseball team. He was amazing. His kicking power and quick reflexes made him ideal for the forward position in soccer, his muscle memory and amazing accuracy made him the best shooter in the country, and the endurance he had made him the ultimate track runner. Combine that with the fact that he was pretty popular and a good looking guy, and Keigo had himself the ideal best friend to lead him to glory.

"By the way have you seen Tatsuki? She has my controller, and I need it back so I can beat you idiots online too." Ichigo said.

"What's wrong with your other one?"

"It acts funny. Sometimes I shoot for no reason and that's how you guys beat me the other day. I just need to freehand it."

"Nice excuse, Ichigo. Everyone says that. _It's my controller. _Haha, I can't believe you tried that."

"Shut up. I said it was my controller!" Ichigo said again as he lunged at his friend and put him in a headlock playfuly. Keigo pretended to tap out but Ichigo held on as Tatsuki walked in.

"Yo." Tatsuki simply said as she sat down in her chair, behind Ichigo. She played basketball the last night on the girl's basketball team, but unlike Ichigo, she had lost. She really didn't like losing. Ichigo released Keigo and turned to Tatsuki.

"Say do you have that controller? Keigo and Mizuiro swear they can beat me, but the one I have now is messing up all the time."

"_Messing up all the time?_ Please Ichigo, I've played against you too and you pretty much suck. Don't blame the controller," Tatsuki said as she started unpacking her materials onto the desk. Keigo burst out laughing, and Ichigo's smile faded into his trademark scowl and he turned forward.

"Someone's a little mad they lost…" Ichigo leaned back a bit and whispered this loudly. Tatsuki slammed the book she had just pulled out of her bag and smacked her fist onto it.

'Damn Ichigo! Thinks he's so great!' Tatsuki thought to herself, trying not to let any curses come out as the teacher walked into the room. Ichigo smirked a little bit at having ticked her off (he could tell by the double slam behind him) when he suddenly noticed the teacher. He immediately sat up straight and placed his hands on the desk. He poked Keigo in the nose to alert him of the threat.

"Ouch! Geez, I see her. Class isn't for another two minutes anyway. Say, where's Orihime?" Keigo held his nose and spoke to Ichigo.

Ichigo thought for a moment. "Beats me," he finally concluded. 'Maybe she's somewhere with Uryu?'

"I bet she's somewhere with that Uryu guy," said Keigo. "They always show up late, or leave at the same time. I don't get what she sees in him, and I honestly don't know why you hang out with him sometimes Ichigo."

Ichigo scowled at Keigo's words as he realized he had a point. He didn't really know why he hung out with Uryu. Back in freshmen year he thought they were just neutral, but ever since then he's felt like he was close to him. Like he was a a brother for some reason. Ichigo shook his head as Mizuiro walked by to sit at his desk behind Tatsuki.

"All right, I'm shutting the door in 5….4….3….2….1…and closing.." the teacher spoke as she got up from her desk and walked to the door to close it. As the door closed, a hand reached to stop it from the outside. A very tired looking Uryu stumbled in and breathed out a apology for being late. Following after him was Orihime Inoue, who also looked drained. The teacher let them in and scolded them for being almost late, and how the tardy policy did not play around with matters such as this. Uryu sat in the front, and Orihime went to the desk next to Ichigo and took a seat.

"Well then, now that we're sure everyone is here, we can go ahead and begin with some good old fashioned algorithms and their relative use in the real world! Open your books to page 378…" The teacher said, but after that Ichigo mentally blocked out her words as he day dreamed about playing basketball in America somewhere and hitting the game winning shot. As he day dreamed, Tatsuki stared at his spiky orange hair from behind him. She always thought Ichigo was a little punk that she had to protect, but a little while after he got his bad boy reputation, and his sport accolades, she saw him a bit differently. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she saw him differently. Tatsuki turned to look at the back of her best friend's head. Orihime would frequently shoot Ichigo nervous side glances. Tatsuki pondered quietly to herself and started to doodle in her book.

After about an hour, Ichigo, fed up with the boredom, wrote a note and slowly reached forward to hand it to Keigo. As he tapped Keigo with the corner of the note, Orihime abruptly stood up and knocked the letter from his grip.

"Excuse me, Ms. Ochi…..I have to go to the bathroom. NOW." Orihime slightly yelled at the teacher in a respectful tone, and shot Ichigo a, _I'm sorry_ look.

The teacher nodded and said, "very well . I hope you understand that for every minute you take, you'll have to give back to me after school right?" Orihime nodded and hurried out the door. Uryu stood to get up slightly, but Orihime mouthed some words to him as he sat back down, and played it off like he was reaching for something on the ground.

Ichigo bent over to grab the note. When he came back up with it, the teacher was in front of him. "And what do we have there ?" The class snickered, as Ichigo was a riot in his interactions with the teachers. In actuality, Ichigo was just blunt, but his classmates thought he was just a great class clown.

"Nothing, just paper geez," he naturally answered.

"Oh? Do you mind sharing it with the class?" The teacher challenged him as she placed her hands on her hips. Ichigo heard Tatsuki and Mizuiro snicker behind him.

"No problem," he said as he stood up. "Ahem. _I think is is a darn good teacher. Do you think so? Check yes or exactly." _The class laughed as Ichigo read his obviously fake and concocted letter. The teacher smirked and snatched the letter out of his hands. She adjusted her glasses and read the REAL version of the note.

"_I can prove it. I'll show you who sucks. I'll freehand it on your ass and make you swallow-" _The teacher read the letter out loud and stopped suddenly. Ichigo felt his face redden as he hoped she would finish the rest of the letter and not make it look as bad as it seemed. In about two seconds, everyone in the classroom burst out laughing. Tatsuki poked Ichigo in the butt as she laughed hard along with her other classmates. "Geez, I wonder who this is for?" The teacher said smugly as she waved the note in his face. Keigo's face reddened with embarrassment.

After an awkward 35 minutes, 1st period let out, and Ichigo and his group of friends (Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, and some other likable jocks) went ahead to their next classes and finished the day. Around 3 when school let out, the group all went their separate ways, save for Ichigo and Tatsuki. Ichigo didn't have practice today in any sport, since the school cancelled all athletic practice for spirit week so that the seniors could get pumped for graduation and kick back and enjoy life. Some teams tried to continue the practice to get ahead on next week's sports block, but it wasn't mandatory. Ichigo walked back to his house side by side with his friend Tatsuki since they lived in the same neighborhood.

"You know, me and Orihime don't really hang out like we used to," Tatsuki said to Ichigo. Ichigo looked over at his friend to study her face as she said this. Her head was held low, not in a sad way, but more like a matter-as-fact way.

"I guess not. Your usually practicing like me, or hanging out with me and Keigo and those other idiots. She's really been close to Uryu lately," Ichigo said. Tatsuki looked at him.

"She didn't come back to 1st period at all, and I don't think she showed for any of her classes. She's been going out a lot this past year and she's always tired looking when I see her…..like she lives a double life…"

"Do you think her and Uryu are…." Ichigo gave a suggestive hand sign as he looked her in her eye.

"That's not funny."

"I'm just kidding around. Orihime's a ditz…..in a good way. She's too innocent and all that to be getting involved with guys. She's probably just working hard on that job she said she had, and she didn't come back to class because she was sick or something. Besides, Uryu didn't leave with her," Ichigo said to Tatsuki. This put her at ease slightly. She had become more use to Ichigo and his clique as she drifted away from Orihime, and he always had a way of making her smile.

"Your going to free hand it tonite with your pal?" Tatsuki said in a tease as she stopped at her house. Ichigo's rare smile faded and he scowled.

"Shut up." He said simply as he walked toward his house. Tatsuki smiled and watched him walk away. Ichigo was quite a good guy, so it was no surprise to her that she knew Orihime had a slight crush on him, regardless of her relationship with Uryu.

Tatsuki remembered when Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, and Chad (before he moved) would be an unstoppable foursome. They would regularly leave class at random times, and neither of her close friends would tell her what was going on. But about 2 years ago, Ichigo would passively hang out in his old group, as he was voted sophomore class king, and junior class king respectively. It wasn't that he thought he was better than them, he just drifted away like she did, especially when Uryu and Orihime would abruptly leave class for no reason. It seemed like Ichigo was left out, and he looked just as confused as she was. Whenever she brought up the old things he did with the group, Ichigo would feign ignorance and say he couldn't really remember anything from 2 years back.

"Tatsuki! Your gonna stand out there all day or what? I just slabbed some ribs on the barbecue!" Tatsuki's father yelled out to her from the front door step. Tatsuki broke from her thoughts, and smiled as she jogged into the house.

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Author's Note: So what do you think? Review and critique!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: Chapter 2! This story is updated once daily. In this chapter, we get more insight onto what exactly Ichigo may be forgetting, also a damaged friendship is repaired.

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"Ichigo! It's Tuesday, not a Sunday, you have to get up and get to school! This is the second morning in a row you've almost been late!" Yuzu called from downstairs to Ichigo. Shows what she knew. Ichigo was already completely dressed and ready to start his day, having more or less the same outfit from yesterday, albeit changing his shoes. He looked at himself in the mirror quickly before beginning the jog to school. As he ran past Tatsuki's house, he wondered how she would always make it to class on time, despite the fact that she left after him. Ichigo was always cutting it close, and he RAN. As he slowed near the bridge for his daily check-up on his perspiration levels, he looked down deep in thought.

Last night he had a dream where he was speaking with someone. He couldn't remember who he was speaking with but it seemed really important:

_"I'm telling you, you can't go out there…! Come back…..!"_

_"I have to do something…..hey over here you giant freak…."_

_"You idiot…no….."_

_"Do you want to save your….."_

_"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki…."_

Ichigo couldn't remember the nature of the conversation or who was talking first. He just remembered after saying his name he felt a plunging sensation and he woke up. He had been having dreams like this for awhile now, with him speaking to someone about something, or having someone speak to him. He shook his head and finished the jog to school. He really didn't want to be late, especially after what happened yesterday. The last thing he needed was to be shamed again.

As Ichigo ran into the classroom, he looked up toward the clock. He was 5 minutes early. Again. It seemed like he misjudged how long it would take for him to jog to school, though he was admittedly fast. After about a minute, Keigo and Mizuiro walked in arguing over video games.

"…..can't use that gun it's overpowered! They need to nerf it or something!" Keigo said. He was obviously the frustrated one in the argument since he was yelling, while Mizuiro calmly spoke.

"A gun is not overpowered because it can kill you Mr. Asano."

"Then tell me, how can you possibly beat it? It encourages camping!"

"Very simple Mr. Asano. You use ANOTHER gun to shoot at the person with the gun. And campers are campers for a reason. They stay in one area of the map. You simply avoid that area if you aren't smart enough to kill them, or you flank-hey Ichigo early again?" Mizuiro greeted Ichigo rather than finish explaining to Keigo.

"Why don't you call him Mr. Kurosaki?" Keigo asked, flabbergasted as he sat down in his usual seat.

"Hey guys!" Orihime Inoue walked into the classroom and waved at the boys. She was wearing a revealing Wonder Woman type outfit. Keigo noticed this immediately. They all waved back, and Keigo raised his hand higher and smiled widely to impress her. She sat down next to Ichigo. "What were you guys yelling about just a second ago?" she said looking toward Ichigo.

"Ask them," he cooly said. Ichigo thought Orihime was a cool girl, so he tried to treat her like he treated everyone else. Bluntly.

"Just about spirit week," Keigo said, trying to avoid looking like a nerd by talking about video games in front of his crush. "We were kinda arguing about who would have the most…spirit. What's up with the hot outfit?"

Orihime giggled. "Don't the events officially begin today? I mean yesterday was dress in school colors day, and we all wore our uniforms. Today should be dress like your favorite hero right?"

Ichigo, Keigo, and Mizuiro eyed her. All of their memories suddenly came into focus and they all realized they forgot about every single event that was supposed to be happening this week! Keigo looked devastated.

"You mean I could've been a Blaze Runner….." Keigo sadly said as he betrayed his strict, don't-say-geeky-stuff-around-girls rule.

"You mean I could've been Oscar Mayer…." Mizuiro said in a depressed way.

Orihime once again looked toward Ichigo. "Ummm Ichigo, who would you want to be?"

"I am somebody."

Orihime was surprised. "Ummm who?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki. Student." He blunt said as he started to unpack his bag. Today was going to be a tiresome day. He forgot his lunch, which meant he would have to eat the crap they throw out in the cafeteria. Or he could get one of his many acquaintances to share something with him. As he stared at the spot where his lunch would usually be in his bag, he caught sight of Tatsuki from the corner of his eye. She was dressed in a business suit that fit her perfectly. Her long hair was across her front shoulder, black and shiny as always.

"Good morning guys, hey Orihime!" Tatsuki said as she sat down behind Ichigo.

"Hey Tatsuki! Who are you supposed to be?" Orihime asked.

"I'm a successful career woman. I will not tolerate inequality in the workplace," Tatsuki said sternly and proudly. Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Say where's Uryu?"

This created an awkward silence. Technically the conversation was just between Orihime and Tatsuki, but the three boys were well aware of the rift that Uryu created between the two former best friends, now near strangers.

"He can't make it to school today, he has to…..work." Orihime said as she smiled and scratched the back of her head. The silence went on awkwardly for another 10 seconds or so before Ichigo decided he would save Orihime.

"I used to have a job working odd jobs for this crazy lady down the street, but then she started asking me to make all these house calls, and shorting me out on my pay.."

"You mean that hot older woman boss? Man she's a cougar!" Keigo said.

"I have to agree with Mr. Asano for once," said Mizuiro.

"Hey…"

Soon the conversation started back up again, and Orihime really appreciated Ichigo saying something to make the moment less awkward for her. It made her sad that he forgot all the things that she still remembered.

"Orihime, Tatsuki, what were the worse jobs you ever had?" Ichigo asked as he turned at an angle so that he could speak with the two of them. Soon a class wide discussion began on horrible jobs, and the teacher even jumped into it. For once, Orihime didn't feel too different from her friends. It felt like the old days.

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It was now lunch time, and as Ichigo expected, they were serving crap in the cafeteria. He decided not to hop in line, and walked outside to sit at the picnic tables with his usual lunch mates. There were usually 3 tables that were close together with jocks, cool guys, and cheerleaders filling them up. The main table of this threesome was the one where Ichigo usually sat. Mizuiro, Keigo, and Tatsuki usually sat with him, along with any other athlete that got lucky to sit with the head honcho. Today, that seat was taken my Orihime. Ever since 1st period, Tatsuki and Orihime were laughing together and it was just like old times for the two.

"You remember that sleepover we had back in the 7th grade?" Tatsuki asked laughing.

"When your dad made the pork chops and I put the macaroni on top?" Orihime was talking loudly, so most people at the surrounding tables heard her and laughed with her. She seemed like she belonged with them, Ichigo thought as he watched Orihime. It was a shame that once Uryu came back, she would have to go back to her drooping eyes, and weird erratic behavior. It seemed funny since Uryu didn't seem the type to harm or affect a girl's lifestyle to this degree.

When the lunch bell rang and the students groaned and got up to make it to their next class on time, Ichigo stayed behind to tie his shoes.

"Hurry up man we're gonna be late!" A caped and masked jock yelled out to him.

"Go ahead, I'll catch up. Tell Old Man Gravy I had to take a leak or something." The jock laughed and continued on. Tatsuki and Orihime stood up as well.

"We aren't in the same class next period are we huh?" Tatsuki asked Orihime.

"No, I have wood shop. I can afford to be late though, so I'll stay here and clear this table so that the janitors won't have to work so hard."

"Ok, I'll see you later," Tatsuki said as she hurried off in a light jog to be on time for her next class.

Ichigo finished tying his shoes and looked up to see only Orihime left.

"You better get a move on, your gonna be late for class you know," Ichigo said to her.

"It's fine I have wood shop," Orihime said as she scanned Ichigo's face. He looked the same, except maybe a bit more hair. Why couldn't he still be the same? "Ichigo, did you really forget everything?"

"Forget everything?" Ichigo asked her. He was confused. Did he ask her out at some point or something? He did know he had trouble recollecting memories from 2 years ago.

"I mean, about what you used to do….I know that Mr. Urahara told us that you would be affected by it too since you had so little energy left, but I can't really accept that. It's like you've changed a little, but your still the same person Ichigo." Orihime looked like she was about to cry. Ichigo racked his mind for an answer. Little energy left? Affected by it?

"Oh. I see. Your talking about the game the other night? I think you mean Ukerha, the assistant coach. I really didn't have much energy to finish the game that night, but somehow I got past the fatigue to contribute. I haven't changed much, just a goodnites sleep and I'm ready to go! Don't worry about it Orihime," Ichigo said as he playfully punched her arm.

He hoped that that would put her mind at ease. He didn't want her to think that he couldn't play for the playoffs. "I gotta go, I'm gonna be late, talk to you later!"

Orihime watched Ichigo jog off. She started making her way to the tardy office to get the pass for her Drawing class. She had concocted the wood shop excuse to give herself a reason to speak with him. Uryu warned her against trying to convince Ichigo, but since Uryu offered to give her the day off from hunting hollows and taking up her responsibilities, she knew she had to take the chance to see if there was anything left of Ichigo's memories. There didn't seem to be anything, and Orihime walked faster as she put a finger to her eyes to catch the inevitable tears that would fall.

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Author's Note: As always review and critique!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I'm back with this story! I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I've decided I'm going to finish this story. It will probably go well over a 100k words, and I'll be writing it as I write my One Piece story, "**The New Generation of Pirates**." Please take time to check it out, and thanks for reading!

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"Are you sure that this is possible? I heard things can't change, even if you do go back! It's the Novak principle, or something like that…" The young man walking through the void spoke to his companion. The young man had messy dark blue hair and grey eyes. He was about 6'2 and well built. He had an olive skin tone. He wore a regular sized black t-shirt with the word _Evolution _across the front in bold white letters, and blue jeans. He had on white, red, and black basketball shoes, and he had a white jacket slung over his shoulder. He had a rather large cross tattoo on his right arm. This tattoo was overly simplistic and looked simply as though the tattoo artist traced the shape of a cross, and shaded it.

"Anything is better than the current situation. And I trust what she said. The difference could be great, or it could be minuscule….at least we would have tried. Damn quitter," the young woman responded to the man. She had long black hair, with a small bit of it hanging over her face, in-between her eyes. She had ocean blue eyes with emotionless pupils, and a slightly-tanned peach skin young woman wore a typical school uniform, albeit not being a revealing one. The skirt ended just above her knees, and while she did have quite a bit of chest, it was safely hidden under the vest and shirt.

"…I mean I think so too, I'm just being smar-" He began before being cut off.

"And I'm not?"

"No! I mean, I'm just being saf-" He tried to rephrase his statement.

"And I'm not?"

He quietly pressed his palm to his forehead. "Look. I'm just saying, this could be a bit of a dangerous situation. We don't know much about him. I admit, you may not be nervous, but I am. I don't even know what I-"

"Look!" The young woman said as she cut off her partner for a third time. She was pointing to the exit of the void. Outside of the void they were walking through were the familiar rays of the sun. A small city slowly came into view as the two walked closer.

"Karara City…" The girl whispered breathlessly as she allowed the wind that was seeping through reach her. As the wind soared through her hair she dramatically posed.

"Actually it's Karakura Town," the young man told her, effectively ruining her moment. She scowled at him as the pair continued their trot until they were right on the edge, and effectively looking down directly into the city. "And this is where we're supposed to stop right? I feel spiritual pressure directly below us, so this is probably right."

"Who died and made you the god of directions?" The young woman asked him. "Of course this is where we go, I uh, just, didn't have time to tell you before you told me!" The man rolled his eyes at her words but nonetheless jumped down into the city. He looked left and right, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the spiritual pressure. The woman jumped down soon after him, opting to stop herself and float, rather than go into a free fall like her partner.

'What, does he think he can focus on the spiritual pressure while's falling down? Ike is SO cocky,' she thought as a smirk came to her face. She closed her eyes and focused for the spiritual pressure. As it turned out, it wasn't directly below them like they thought. The way they came was the only way the spiritual pressure could leak into the void, so naturally they thought it was just below them. 'Ah! Got it!' she thought as she flew through the air toward a small woods, just outside of the city. This was weird. The spiritual pressure she was feeling was getting weaker. Almost as if it were fading away…..or dying. She clicked her teeth and accelerated faster. They had just gotten here, and already the target was about to meet his demise! 'Maybe we did pick the wrong choice,' she thought.

* * *

"ICHIGO!" A voice yelled at Ichigo. Ichigo turned around slowly. He had just walked back from school and was standing on his front door step. He was about to open the door and let himself in when he suddenly heard a familiar voice yell at him. He smiled once he spotted the person hiding behind a corner of the house.

"Old man! Shouldn't you be in the house with your life alert handy? It's dangerous out here," Ichigo said with a smirk on his face.

"Suns out, guns out!" His father, Isshin Kurosaki, yelled toward him, as he stepped from the corner with a tank top on. He proudly had his arms flexed as he smirked back at his son. Ichigo immediately flexed and laughed.

"Looks like I've still got you pops, but hey, you're looking pretty good for, what, 50?" Ichigo laughed as he stepped inside of his house. He could hear Isshin yelling something after him, but he ignored it and hurried upstairs. Once he was in his room with his door completely closed, he threw off his sneakers and turned on his TV. He switched to the local news channel to see if Karakura High would win the Team of The Month Award. He also had to see the competition for the playoffs coming up. When the story being covered was about puppies being eaten, he decided he would kill some time by switching into the clothes he was going to wear for tonite.

_Flashback - Right after school left out_

_Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Orihime exited the school simultaneously. Usually after the end of the school day, Ichigo and Tatsuki would walk toward the athletic facilities to begin practice, but since they had the week off, they had taken to just walking home while talking about various topics. For the first time in quite some time, Orihime was walking home with Tatsuki._

_"Say Orihime, you wanna do something later tonite?" Tatsuki asked her. Ichigo could tell that Tatsuki was really excited for a chance to rekindle her friendship with Orihime. He scowled. She never was this excited to be HIS friend, but Ichigo comforted himself with the fact that he didn't need the magic powers of friendship so much since he wasn't a girl._

_"Oh….yes! That would be great.." Orihime answered with a forced smile, that did not go unnoticed by Ichigo. She also had sad, heavy eyes. Almost like her cat got shot or something. Apparently Tatsuki didn't notice._

_"Ichigo, you wanna hang out with me and Orihime? I was thinking we could get a couple more people and go see a movie," Tatsuki said. Now why in the world would he want to hang out with two girls to see a lame movie? Obviously Tatsuki wasn't completely comfortable with Orihime again, and needed a more group-themed environment. Ichigo decided that he didn't really have anything to do._

_"Sure why not," he said in his usual aloof tone._

_"Great. Just come to my house around 6 and we can get something to eat and than walk to the movie theater….and don't invite Keigo."_

_End Flashback_

Ichigo sighed as he reflected on what happened earlier. He really didn't feel like seeing a movie in a couple hours, but he had to stick by what he said.

The TV caught his interest though as he pulled on his change of shirt. **"And now for the Team of The Month Award…." **Ichigo immediately dropped everything and turned to the TV in anticipation.

* * *

Ike slowed his descent through the air as he realized that he would be very visible to everyone in proximity. He was so intent on following the pressure that he forgot to be cautious. He clicked his teeth and looked around for a safer landing spot. He saw an alleyway a little to the left below him and he zoomed down quickly to avoid being identified. He slowed right before hitting the street and softly planted his feet on the ground. He smiled. It had been quite a while since he was on ground since he had spent quite a bit of time walking through the void.

'I wonder what's taking Layla so long? I bet that idiot went to the other spiritual pressure off in the distance. If she had a hint of discipline in her, she would have realized that that was too big to be the target.' He frowned as he thought about the time that Layla would waste. 'Should I output more energy to let her know where I am? No, I could attract a hollow or two to the area. She'll figure it out on her own. Right now, I have to find _her._' With that final thought, Ike turned and walked toward the spiritual pressure of his target.

* * *

Layla rushed through the sky over the woods as she skimmed her eyes over the general direction of the target's spiritual pressure. 'This should be her alright,' Layla thought as she smiled and slowed her descent as she fell through the air. At first she thought it couldn't have been the target, but it was the largest one that she could sense anywhere near the city, so this definitely had to be her. From what she was told, the target was quite a powerhouse. She knew that the target was just around a grove of trees she landed by. As she rounded the corner she could hear the target. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

"**AARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" **It sounded to her like a hollow was yelling! Most likely out of pain. Was that the spiritual pressure she sensed?

"Your….ugh….a…tough one….but I….won't be…beaten….so easily," a young man's voice said. A male voice? Was she mishearing? This probably wasn't the correct target. She listened on to verify.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Come on Soul Reaper! Or whatever the hell you are!" You can do better than that! I only released a Mod Hollow, I'm sure you can at least kill it!" Another, rougher voice spoke, seemingly yelling at the former voice.

The struggling voice spoke again, and what came from his mouth was a complete surprise to Layla. "I'm not…..a damn soul reaper…..you damn arrancar or whatever the hell you are…..I'm a Quincy!

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Author's Note: Short chapter, but from this point on I'll try to keep the updates 2400+ and daily. As always, review and critique!


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